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Cars get totaled by much smaller hail. I’ve hidden under a bridge when a green storm came by.

And Nebraska is mostly empty so much falls on nothing.

Roof insurance pays out and crews come from as far away as Arizona to feast and the cycle continues.

These big hailstorms seem to be once in ten years or so.




>green storm

When they're green, you know there is hail and perhaps even a tornado inside somewhere. Beautiful but terrifying all at the same time.


A hailnado?


It's not the wind that's damaging so much as the things the wind is carrying.

Hail. Rocks. Planks. Cows...


How fast does air have to go to hurt your face?


Again, it depends on what's in it.

At even modest cycling speeds, dust, sand, insects, rocks, small children, etc., may irritate or injure eyes. Eyewear is strongly recommended.

At highway speeds (~100 kph) your eyes will tend to tear up.

With goggles, motorcyclists, race-car drivers, and pilots sustain wind speeds of ~200--300 kph, though that is probably an upper reasonable limit, and again, any sort of debris will greatly increase trauma.

(Some) pilots have survived supersonic bailouts or loss of structural integrity: <http://www.classichistory.net/archives/sr-71-breakup>. Though typically, that ride starts with a full flight suit and helmet, though it needn't end in the same state.


Ron White "it's not that the wind is blowing, it's what the wind is blowing."


There it is!


Late edit: sharks.


Had a 90mph hailnado ~8 years ago. It came straight across the yard & drove water through the front door, spalled a 1/4" of limestone off the front of the house & stripped the blades off of the grass: we had a field of tiny, poky stalks.




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